Islamic State propaganda targeting children found in Indonesia

A member of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia wears a jacket with embroidery that reads "Caliphate leads the world" during a rally outside the presidential palace in Jakarta. File picture: Dita Alangkara/AP

Jakarta - Indonesian police have found
hundreds of books containing Islamic State propaganda targeting
children at the home of a suspect arrested in connection with
the stabbing death of an officer, a police spokeswoman said on
Monday.

Another suspected militant was shot and killed by police
during Sunday's attack on a police station in Medan, the capital
of North Sumatra province.

The wife of the arrested man told police her husband had
spent six months in Syria in 2013, said police spokeswoman Rina
Sari Ginting, adding this was still being investigated.

Police believe the men were part of Jemaah Ansharut Daulah
(JAD), an umbrella organization on a U.S. State Department
"terrorist" list which supports Islamic State and has hundreds
of Indonesian followers.

"We can see from the pattern of their attack that it is
likely they belong to the JAD network," said Ginting.

There is concern about a rise of militancy in Indonesia,
which has the world's biggest Muslim population.

Islamic State sympathisers have carried out a series of
mostly low-level attacks over the past few years, and there are
fears about the return of hundreds of Indonesians who have gone
to Syria to support Islamic State.

The books aimed at children found at the home of the
arrested man were written in Indonesian and included pictures
and messages supportive of dying in jihad, or holy war, Ginting
said.

They appeared to be designed and printed by the suspect, she
said.

Police believe the suspects had intended not only to kill
police during Sunday's knife attack but also to seize their
guns.

Out of 12 people being questioned in connection with the
attack, one had been made a suspect and is alleged to have
helped the attackers by surveying the police headquarters, she
said.

Police were also investigating whether the attackers were
linked to three suspected militants who were arrested on June 6
in the area by anti-terrorism police.